Change in tune?

We’ve all seen the Geico commercials with people being stalked by the little stack of money with eyes, reminding them of the money they could have saved by switching to Geico. Have you noticed a certain change in the reception that “Kash” has received from the person being followed? I have and, frankly, I’m not sure what to make of it.

When this campaign launched, people seemed to be a little leery of the creepy money as it snuck up on them. Here’s one of the original ads.

Now, check out one of their ads from the second round of this campaign. See the difference? The person who could be saving that money is now welcoming Kash, instead of freaking out — which makes total sense.

This demonstrates the power of focus group testing — albeit a little late in the game. In retrospect, you have to wonder why Kash was ever creepy at all. But Geico is known for dishing out some serious cash for multiple campaigns at once, so they probably didn’t feel too much of an impact here. Still, imagine spending a year’s worth of marketing dollars before testing to see how the public will perceive your ideas. Oops!